About the AIOFP
July 2011
The AIOFP was founded in 1998 by a group of 3 independently owned practices looking for an entity that delivered relevant meaningful services. The AIOFP’s founding objectives were to further the commercial interests of members and stand by them when required, these have not changed. AIOFP’s original direction was not to be another ‘vanilla’ association duplicating services that were already available in the market. We have taken a more commercial track thanks to the highly experienced and qualified board of Directors with AIOFP, Filtered Research Committee [FRC] and the member owned Private Label manufacturer Personal Choice Management Pty Ltd.[PCM]
• AIOFP Chairman Peter Daly – Managing Director of AFS Ltd.
• Dr Dennis Maddern – Managing Director of Maddern Financial Services Ltd.
• Tony Siragusa – Partner Money Guidance Advice and Accounting.
• Ben Jayaweera – Principle Growth Plus
• John Ardino – Principle Lifespan Financial Planning.
• Peter Johnston – AIOFP [practice principle for 22 years]
• PCM Chairman Darren Pawski – Managing Director Wealthsure Ltd.
• Les Mace – General Manager RIAA
• Dr Tony Virtue – Principle Virtue and Partners – RO of PCM.
• Peter Daly and Peter Johnston are also Directors of PCM.
• Andrew Reeve – Parker – Principle NW ADVICE – FRC committee.
• Rob McGregor – McGregor Asset Consulting – FRC committee.
This group of Directors represents over 250 years experience in the Financial Services sector, 1000 advisers and $15 billion of FUA. Members could not get a more experienced and dedicated board.
The AIOFP comprises over 150 practices ranging from large national dealer groups to small one person practices. Total advisors exceed 2500 with over 35 billion of funds under administration/advice.
Over the past 3 years members and the Board have approved for the construction of 2 services that will deliver benefits to members and their clients:-
• Filtered Research Centre (FRC) – FRC is a member owned research facilitation service that delivers conflict free research information to members in a cost effective fashion. The AIOFP has been critical of the conflicted research culture where product manufacturers are paying research housed to rate their products. FRC has appointed global player Mercer Consulting as its principle supplier of funds management information with supplementary services from McGregor Asset Consulting. Both Mercer and McGregor do not accept conflicted payments from product manufacturers. For ASX product research FRC has facilitated both JB Were and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney to provide market research and advice to FRC subscribers.
• Private Label Platform – Personal Choice Management Pty Ltd (PCM) is a member owned joint venture platform business that has been operating since 1998. Over the years PCM has used the scale of the AIOFP members to achieve price reductions on platform administration fees to benefit members and their clients. Over the past 12 months PCM has developed a private label product in conjunction with Westpac/Asgard where an independent trustee has been appointed. Personal Choice Private (PCP) enjoys institutional pricing on both administration and trustee fees delivering a significant benefit to clients. PCM has also embedded a management margin to fund distributions to shareholders. PCP has appointed Westpac/Asgard as the custodian and administrator giving clients and advisors identical security and services to retail investors.
The AIOFP is entering an exciting growth phase which will deliver new clients to your business. These initiatives include the ASX “Find a Planner” client strategy and the new Certified Financial Strategist. The CFS designation is designed to be a professional, client relevant awareness program.
Other Benefits of Being an AIOFP Member:
• networking with like minded professionals on a day to day basis to share information on compliance, marketing and management
• exclusive professional indemnity cover
• relevant, professional bi-annual conferences with key guest speakers
• ASIC advocacy
• new client referrals via our website member directory
• group discounts on software, research and all relevant commodities::
• Discount through Advant on marketing and client communication strategies including newsletters, snapshots, postcards, promotional items etc – contact Josh Wilson at Advant on 1300 738 707 or email josh@advant.com.au
• Discount through Words Unlimited on personalised newsletters, e-news and copy writing – contact Julianne Bell at Words Unlimited on 07 3821 3773 or email julianne@wordsunlimited.com.au
• Discount through MidWinter on their Reasonable Basis software. This software can enhance the efficiency of your business by reducing the time taken to produce advice from the current average 7 hours to approximately ½ hour – contact Matthew Esler at MidWinter on 1300 882 938 or email mesler@midwinter.com.au.
• Discount on Kaplan courses including the ASX Accredited Listed Product Adviser (ALPA) course and Diploma of Financial Services – contact Doug Palmer, Kaplan Professional on 02 8248 7520 or email doug.palmer@kaplan.edu.au
• Discount on XPLAN software which delivers a web based system for managing client data, investment projections, portfolios, risk and reporting – contact Mark Perrett at IRESS Market Technology on 02 8273 7037 or email mperrett@iress.com.au
Eligibility Criteria to be a General Member of AIOFP
Association membership is strictly controlled and regulated. A company is eligible to be a member if they meet the following criteria:
1. Must be fully independent with no conflicting ownership from any fund manager, life insurance company, bank, credit union or other financial institution
2. Operates an Australian Financial Services License and to be of good fame.
Peter Johnston
Executive Director
Association of Independently Owned Financial Planners
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